This invention relates to illuminated animated signs of the type that employ two superimposed panels each having an opaque background with transparent dots therein, the transparent dots of one panel being arranged to form patterns that are illuminated when the dots in the two panels register to allow light to pass therethrough. A typical prior art animated sign of this general type is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,783,539 to C. E. Trame et al. This sign has a substantially rectangular grid of transparent dots in one panel and an array of circularly disposed transparent dots in the other panel, there being a circle of dots for each single dot in the rectangular grid. The panel bearing the circularly disposed dots is orbited in a circular path with respect to the other panel so that each circle of transparent dots passes in succession over the corresponding dot of the rectangular grid. The circularly disposed dots are arranged to present a pattern representing numbers showing the time of day, and the orbital panel is driven at a predetermined speed to digitally display the correct time minute by minute. Each digit of the display is formed by an array of lighted dots which result from registration between dots of the rectangular grid and the circularly disposed dots.
Although the above-described prior art sign is workable in connection with digital clocks, the requirement of having a circle of dots in one panel for each dot in the other panel results in a grid having intersections which are too far apart to be effectively used for letters, words, pictures, and the like, particularly in signs that are to be observed from relatively short distances such as encountered in point of purchase displays.